What does it mean ASOT ?
A State of Trance abbreviated as ASOT is a trance weekly radio show aired every Thursday at 20:00 (CET) and 14:00 (EST) and hosted by prominent music producer and DJ Armin van Buuren. It is also the name of van Buuren’s annual CD compilation series.
Started in 2001
First airing in March 2001 on ID&T Radio (the predecessor of Slam!FM), the show takes the format of a two-hour mix in which Armin plays new trance music (uplifting trance and progressive trance), both promotional and commercially released. Selected tracks are announced during the show in order to help promote new artists and releases. Its radio-show/website combination has proven popular internationally, as fans—while listening to the radio-show—will converse in the website chat-rooms and forums, such as Digitally Imported, during the broadcast. Progressive trance and uplifting trance producers all submit promotional and commercially released tracks to compete to make it onto the playlist of the show each week. The success of the show has also spawned to include several dance events around the world. The show is celebrated live each year in different locations around the globe with a lineup consisting of many trance artists.[1]
The Label
A State Of Trance is a sub-label of the Dutch company Armada Music. Released its first vinyl release in 2003 by Mary Spiteri and reached its 100 release (ASOT100) with “The Doppler Effect – Beauty Hides In The Deep / Envio – For You (The Blizzard Remix)”.
A State Of Trance was formed in 2003 as a sub-label to its Dutch parent company Armada Music. It is also the parent label to A State Of Trance Limited. The style of music focuses mainly on trance and progressive trance with a wide range of artists and producers. The label is focusing on both young producers (such as Filo & Peri, 8 Wonders, Robert Nickson, and Galen Behr) as well as established artists (like Markus Schulz, Sunlounger, Sean Tyas, Signum and Vincent de Moor).
Radio show’s
While it was not the first radio show to broadcast a two-hour mix from a recurring DJ, A State of Trance’s legacy has arguably extended beyond the trance scene. Part of this may be due to the fact that for most parts of the world, A State of Trance was only accessible via Digitally Imported, an internet radio station. Since A State of Trance has gone on the air, numerous DJ’s have created their own radio programs out of the spirit of A State of Trance. Some of which include, Above and Beyond with Trance Around the World (now rebranded as Group Therapy), Aly & Fila with the Future Sound of Egypt, and Markus Schulz with the Global DJ Broadcast. Some radio shows that don’t even play trance music have spawned out of the spirit of A State of Trance (such as Carl Cox’s Global, Hardwell on Air, and Nicky Romero’s Protocol)
Special episodes and celebrating events
Special episodes of the show features various live or recorded mixes by Armin van Buuren or other guest DJs. Every 50th episode of the show there are various celebrations in different countries with many trance DJs that plays live.
In March 2011 during the Ultra Music Festival, A State of Trance was given its own stage as part of its 500th episode tour. This was the first time a radio show was given its own tent at a music festival, along with its own broadcast, separate from the festival’s official broadcast. Typically a festival stage is hosted by either a particular style of music, or a record label. Since Ultra 2011, A State of Trance has had its own arena at Ultra and the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.
Since ID&T’s shift from trance to house music, A State of Trance’s annual episodic celebrations have effectively replaced Trance Energy (now simply called Energy, focusing on electro house instead of trance) as the pinnacle trance event in The Netherlands.[citation needed]